What cancer patients live with is a prescribed crime, neither cancer drugs to fight cancer, nor morphine drugs to relieve their pain. The physical and psychological torment they are subjected to is unjustified, as neither the state takes the trouble to find a sustainable solution to the file of cancer drugs, nor does the judiciary strike with an iron hand to hold the smugglers and those responsible for smuggling cancer drugs and selling them on the black market, not only today, but the lawsuits have been filed for years as well. . Corruption is eating away at the health sector, and as a result, the lives of patients are at stake, and the malignancy is spreading further.
The crisis of morphine drug interruption returns to the fore again, the outcry today is double, as the patient who is unable to find his medicine is also deprived of a medicine that relieves his pain. The crime is multiplied and the results are catastrophic. We return to the same weak link, one company concerned with importing these medicines is waiting for the approval of the Ministry of Health, and even the quantity that was recently available in the market did not exceed 25 boxes of morphine medicine, while hundreds of patients were groaning in pain in their homes without anyone caring about them.
We are trying to speak with the Ministry of Health to follow up on the merits of this matter, but the person responsible for the file does not answer her phone, despite the appointment of an appointment with her.
Morphine is the last resort for stage 4 patients, and they only have these pills to relieve their pain before they are released. They face death with the least possible harm, but the right of the sick has been taken away even by death without pain… And here is the greatest farce and the greatest crime!
Four months ago, the cry of cancer patients resounded after the discontinuation of morphine drugs sold in pharmacies to relieve their pain, and after matters were resolved for a month, the crisis returned again and intensified more in the past weeks after the discontinuation of morphine drugs of various sizes or the availability of one of them in a very limited quantity.
Today, the scream multiplies with the multiplication of pain and moaning, as no one is able to silence this pain that gnaws at their weak bodies that are resisting this malignant. The cry of the writer and sculptor Kitty Akl may be the most sincere person who talks about the pain she has been carrying in her body for months, trying to resist with all her remaining strength, the one who endured all this torment 10 months ago, she finds herself today frightened and helpless in front of all these pains, because she is deprived of her right In obtaining “morphine” drugs that relieve some of her excruciating pain.
Kitty narrates the beginning of her suffering to “Al-Nahar” by saying: “The torment journey began after I underwent breast surgery to remove the tumor. My wound did not heal and inflammation began to ravage my skin and worsen my condition. Cancer was not the cause, but rather a medical error as a result of a doctor’s negligence in sterilizing the wound and ensuring its health. And clean up, things started to get worse and worse until I got to the most horrific stage where the doctors confirmed I had necrose and then small fiber neuropathy.”
Kitty knows very well what it means to put up with so much pain without all of the medications and therapies relieving it. She had to try everything, but as she says, “all these sedative and analgesic drugs did not relieve this pain in my body. I often had to go to the emergency room to get morphine through the serum in order to relieve even a little of this torment.”
Kitty is sure that cancer patients are left to God, no one asks about them and insurance companies abandon the patient when they know his health condition, but the insurance is unable to bear all those costs. In her opinion, “We have to die a hundred deaths every day. I need 30mg of morphine a day, but for two weeks I have been struggling to find a pill that relieves this heavy load. Or exchanging medicines we have, so that we share a pill because we know the meaning of pain and humiliation.”
Kitty compares cancer patients in Lebanon to “tanned people.” They are known by name, age, and type of cancer in the Ministry of Health, but at the same time they are deprived of their minimum rights, which is to secure their medicines to combat cancer. We resist and humiliate to secure the morphine pill, we are suspended between life and death, and no one is able to obtain our rights. I’ve had a medical error and I’m paying for it.”
On her Facebook page, Kitty wrote, “How am I now? Body parts resist and parts completely collapsed, help me Lord.”
Kitty shortened the pain of hundreds of patients who are enduring suffering beyond their abilities, some of them surrendered in pain because they did not find “morphine” to relieve the torment of their journey, and others screaming alone in their home without these cries succeeding in shaking the throne and its co-authors.
The head of the “Barbara Nassar Association for Cancer Patients”, Hani Nassar, fights with few in the face of rampant corruption and injustice in the health sector, especially in the case of cancer. He assures Al-Nahar that hundreds of patients are screaming in their homes from pain because morphine medicines are cut off and the situation is getting worse day by day. Two weeks ago, morphine drugs of various sizes were discontinued from pharmacies and are only available in hospitals, where some able patients are forced to obtain them despite the cost of hospitalization.”
We are talking about the various morphine drugs that are given to patients, especially those whose condition is advanced and in the fourth stage. Unfortunately, these drugs are such as MST 10MG, 30,60,100MG, ACTISCENAN 5,10,30MG, OXYCODONE 5,10,20MG, TARGINACT 10,20,40MG and PATCHES ( durogesic) are all missing and not available in pharmacies. In Nassar’s opinion, “the 100-mg drug arrived in a limited quantity, not exceeding 25 cans, and nothing was left of it, while other calibers were not available at all. The importing company is waiting for the approval of the Ministry of Health to import a new quantity. The problem is In these types of medicines, importing them takes longer compared to other medicines because they are included in the narcotic medicines, while patients pay the price for this delay or lack of availability due to severe torments.”
The biggest obstacle is that the prescription that the patient gets from his doctor obliges him to buy the drug. For example, if a patient needs a medicine of 120 30mg tablets and finds in the pharmacy a medicine consisting of 60 30mg tablets that he cannot get because it does not match the prescription. He has to either change the prescription or look for another pharmacy. But the sad thing today is that the medicines of all sizes have been cut off.”